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Lab on a chip breast cancer detection ready for final miniaturisation
Breast cancer detection is currently performed in centralised laboratories, which is labour intensive, expensive and time-consuming. Many different sample preprocessing steps are needed for the numerous different medical instruments used. Lab-on-chip systems can perform these tests quickly in a doctor’s office or near the patient’s bed. A programme funded by the European Community is just a step away from developing a full lab on a chip. Click here to read more.
Manchester SMEs to benefit from £4k creative credits
NESTA is launching a world-first programme in Greater Manchester to link SMEs with creative businesses from the region. 'Creative Credits’ will award 150 SMEs £4,000 to spend with external creative firms to match their own £1,000 investment, helping to develop ideas and collaborations which can help businesses to become more profitable. Click here for more.
Manchester's city: could creative sector provide growth?
Manchester’s financial services sector, which accounts for a sixth of employment in the city, and responsible for much of its past growth driven by property speculation, is now contracting and its manufacturing and life sciences industries are facing intense overseas competition and lower growth. These are some of the findings of a recent report from NESTA. Lack of aspiration and global ambitions are major factors that could inhibit future growth potential. More here.
Travelodge offers £10 voucher for Twitter followers
Travelodge, a budget hotel chain in the UK, becomes the first budget hotel brand to begin communicating with its customers through the social messaging service Twitter. The UK’s fastest growing hotel chain will use the online portal to interact with its customers and inform them of new offers, hotel openings and job opportunities. Click here.
Dame Wendy Hall honoured for inspiring role in UK R&D
Web pioneer and leading campaigner for women in science, Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FRS FREng is the recipient of the 2009 Duncan Davies Medal. The DD Medal is awarded by the R&D Society annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution toward making the UK the best-performing research and development environment in the world. Dame Wendy will accept the medal at a lecture she will give to the R&D Society on the evening of 12 October 2009 at the Royal Society, London. Click here for more.
Top 10 lightbulbs myths
The mandatory phase-out of 100W and frosted incandescent light bulbs in the EU, with more phasing out to follow next year opens up a host of new opportunities for budding entrepreneurs. Old fashioned bulbs waste 95 percent of their energy as heat, and LEDs still lose 80 percent of energy as heat and are x10 more expensive. Entrepreneurs who can create novel technologies and solutions and overcome costs, efficiency and process yields are very much welcomed. But first, some of the top myths about the newer technologies. Click here.
There's more to patents than patent filing
Conduit Partners, a specialist in early stage business-building for technology-based companies, has won a contract to become one of four selected providers of patent appraisal aervices to Invest Northern Ireland (INI), Northern Ireland’s economic development agency. Conduit Partners will join four other service suppliers chosen to deliver consultancy on patenting strategy to companies as part of INI’s established Proof of Concept programme. Click here for more.
Entrepreneurs failing to make tough decisions
Surviving through current recession is a higher priority than growing the business, exporting, fighting for market share, deciding where to cut costs; these are some of the results of the annual Entrepreneurship UK report by Deloitte, the business advisory firm. James Caan, entrepreneur and report contributor, comments, “Companies may be tempted to retreat in this environment to the things they know best. I believe entrepreneurs need to use their skills to achieve the right balance between containing costs and expanding the business and they still need to take acceptable risks. They are best placed to understand and assess the risks." More here.
Positive Asian production trend - leads the road to ICT recovery
The current economic climate has really hit hard on the global ICT (information, computer, communication, technology) industry’s trade and production level (down by 40 percent). Inventory build up has been worse than the dot com crash era. Japan and its interconnected Asian production countries (China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong) were particularly hit hard by the down-turn. R&D expenditure cuts, in the hard hit sectors of electronics and semiconductors, are worse than the R&D cuts in 2001. Click here for more.
Scotland promotes marine power to Japanese partners
In a speech at Tokyo University, John Swinney, cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth, invited Japanese companies and universities to work with Scottish counterparts in finding new ways to help achieve renewable energy goals. Citing new opportunity, where up to 10-12GW of new offshore wind power will be deployed in Scottish waters, and the recent investment by Mitsubishi electric in its Livingston facility, where the company will begin production of its low carbon air-to-water residential heat pumps, Mr Swinney also invited more Japanese companies to take part in the £10 million Saltire Prize competition. More here.
Mobile World Congress – call for papers deadline extended to 7th Aug
For our readers with something interesting or new technologies/applications to present to the mobile telecoms community, the GSM Association has extended its deadline for paper submissions to Friday 7th August 2009. Click here for more information.
Media practice of London financial advisor appoints Eric Lawson-Smith
Eric Lawson-Smith has joined Arma Partners as a senior managing director to run its media practice, based in our London office. Eric has over 20 years of M&A advisory experience in the media and digital media sectors, and advises many European digital media companies, having most recently been managing director and head of European digital media at Jefferies. Click here to read more.
Co-founder of med-tech company wins 2009 World Technology Award
The co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Toumaz Technology, Professor Chris Toumazou FRS, has won the 2009 World Technology Award in the Health and Medicine category. Toumaz provides ultra-low power wireless infrastructure for body monitoring solutions. The award ceremony was held on 16 July at the TIME Conference Center, Time and Life Building, in New York, at the culmination of the two-day World Technology Summit. More information here.
Martin & Audrey Wood Enterprise Awards 2009
Oxford Innovation has launched the 2009 Martin & Audrey Wood Enterprise Awards. The Woods grew Oxford Instruments from a start-up in 1959, which incidentally was Oxford University’s first spin-out company. The Enterprise Awards celebrate the achievements of innovative companies in Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley region. This year, it has more categories and bigger prizes for the winners. Click here.
Tax relief for games developers, tackling piracy and more
Although the mainstream press focused on a small number of key proposals in 'The Digital Britain Report' - like broadband tax and the top slicing of the BBC license fee, the report also highlighted a number of other key objectives, which will influence the shape of the mobile, creative and digital industries in the UK. More info here.
A nation of clean-tech inventors to get fast track patent service
Normally, inventors of novel technology, take advantage of upto three years of delay in securing patent grants. The delay allows them to protect the details of their inventions from potential competitors, allow further time to build functional prototype, prove their technology and raise funding for fully developing the product or service. However some inventors, like to secure their patents rights, as quickly as possible, in order to provide leverage in negotiating license fees, royalties, further development funding and partnership deals. The UK Patent office, now offers a fast track (nine months) for patents in the cleantech sector. We examine this further. More here.
Assessing entrepreneurial opportunities
When you prepare your business plan or assess the opportunities for your venture, do you confuse the ‘market’ and ‘industry’? It is easy for would-be entrepreneurs to confuse the two; markets define the group of customers that may buy your products or services, and the industry is the competitor landscape within the market you are targeting. View the video from John Mullins of London Business School - click here.
New solutions for business aim to streamline government support programme
The UK government effort to reduce the confusing number of publicly funded business support schemes from over 3,000 to less than 100 by 2010 is making steady progress with the introduction of nine more products: Enterprise Coaching, Improving Your Resource Efficiency, Collaborative R&D, Networking for Innovation, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Innovation Vouchers, Low Carbon Energy Demonstration, Grant for R&D, Rural Development Programme for England. If you are confused - well some are actually re-branding of old programmes under new themes. Click here.
Aberdeen and Octopus PE appointed by Capital for Enterprise Fund
Subsequent to the UK government announcing the Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers programme in January, two leading fund managers, Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity and Octopus Private Equity have been appointed to manage £30m each from the £75m Capital for Enterprise Fund. The balance of £15m will be used for co-investments. Investors in the £75m fund of funds are the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform along with HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Click here.
China surpasses US in auto production, will exceed Japan in 2009
China surpassed the United States to become the world's second largest auto-making nation, in 2008 and in 2009 is expected to displace Japan as the world's largest car producer. In 2003, US car production surpassed that of China by nearly a factor of 3:1. In 2008, China's production exceeded that of the United States by nearly 7 percent. Click here.
Sloka Telecom open bid
We first came across Sloka Telecom in 2006 and they were featured in our chilliGOLD service. A major telecoms oprator in Europe took notice and asked their Indian partner to investigate: and now, there is an open bid for the company. However the comapny may decide to stay solo and raise a further round thus enabling it to monetise its low cost Femtocell, WiMAX and 3G basestation. To read more on the open bid for Sloka click here.
To see Sloka's detailed chilliONEPAGER click here.
Cambridge launches entrepreneurship diploma
The business and entrepreneurship agenda continues to be a key theme among many UK universities. The latest to come form the University of Cambridge is an opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs to gain a recognised qualification in entrepreneurship. The Advanced Diploma in Entrepreneurship, jointly created by professional studies at the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) and the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) based at Judge Business School, will start in September 2009.